All I want is a taste
by GhostInThePhoto
Summary: Klaus figures out why he reacts to Caroline the way he does. Set after 3x15. Rated M in order to avoid possible problems. It s a just-in-case rating.
1. Maybe tonight I ll call on you

Her eyes slowly opened as flashbacks came rushing at her. She remembered her mom seeing her off at the air port, reassuring her that it was in fact okay to take a break from all the supernatural havoc she called her life in Mystic Falls. She remembered a call from Elena telling her the same. She remembered her first flight. She remembered calling Tyler while she had still been in the car with her mom, telling him about the trip. She remembered hailing a cab and getting to the hotel. She had a vivid flashback of her first view of the New York skyline. After that, she remembered unlocking the hotel room door. She had walked in, letting the door fall shut. Then she had put her luggage on the floor between the bed and the TV. The room wasn´t much, but it was hers, only hers, for an entire week and as she looked around with a big huge smile on her face, she remembered seeing him in a corner next to the door. "Hello love, how was your flight?", she remembered hearing him say that, she remembered a gush of wind and then she remembered her neck snapping.

Now she was waking up to find herself tied to a chair, however she felt a vague sense of relief at noting that she was seemingly still in the same hotel room. A woman, dressed in hospital clothing, was by her side, who was adjusting a tourniquet on her right upper arm. Then Caroline noticed the huge needle stuck in both her arms. That woman was collecting her blood.

"Please, don´t worry, Miss. The draining process should be finished soon. There is really nothing to worry about, you´ll be just fine." The nurse, at least that´s what she supposed the woman was, told her in an eerily quiet voice. She sounded like one of those robots from the stepford wives. Someone had compelled her. Then her words hit her. That woman was going to drain her? And from the blurry feeling in her eyes, she gathered that the process would indeed soon be finished. She had to get out, now.

As she struggled against the restraints, a soothing voice came from the direction of the bed. "Don´t make me snap your neck again, love." She looked up to find Klaus, sitting on the edge of her bed, facing the door, thus having his back to her.

"Klaus... what the hell?" She yelled, struggling even more.

Klaus slowly got up, and said. " I think she should be fine for now Agatha. Wait in the bath room until it´s time to change her blood bags again." The woman nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

He approached her slowly, but casually. This was not the fun part, he thought. This was just a plain necessity. The fun would begin tomorrow. He went around her chair, and started to tenderly wave through her blond curls. "You really thought you could go on a vacation after tricking me?" he asked softly. Caroline closed her eyes. So this is what it´s all about, she thought. The bench talk. "Just like you thought you could buy me off with your cinderella fetish right after forcing my boyfriend into nearly killing me. I didn´t think a week off would be too much to ask for." At the mentioning of Tyler´s name, he gently but firmly pulled her back by her hair, as he placed his other hand around her throat. "Ironically, I had had a similar thought." he smiled.

"So, you´re going to kill me now?" she asked, her voice trembling. "You always think so low of me", he teased as h caressed her neck with his fingers. "You know I really do not appreciate , nor do I tolerate, betrayal. I have ended people for far less than what you tried the other night. It would not be fair to them, if I were to let you go unpunished, now would it?" As she started to shiver under his touch, he abruptly let go off her and walked around the chair, crouching down to face her as he placed both of his hands onto her cheeks. "Don´t worry, sweetheart, I won´t kill you. I am far more creative than that."

"Last time I checked draining someone equals killing someone." she uttered defiantly.

"I won´t drain you, at least not completely. Your nurse has been compelled to take just as much to leave you barely alive, after which I will feed you plenty of your precious blood bags. You´ll be at no risk of dying." he explained soothingly.

"But, what´s the point?"

Her confusion was quite amusing. "You see, given that we only have ten days of vacation time, I thought I would not like to waste it waiting for the vervain to leave your system. It should be all out in a bit. So don´t worry, I won´t let you die." he said, placing a gently kiss onto her forehead, as the realization of his next plan for her brought fear into her eyes. "Agatha?" Klaus called out to the bathroom. "I think she needs new blood bags." Caroline never got to see Agatha walk back in, as her neck was snapped again.

**Author´s note.**

**So, this story is more of another project, when I am busy overthinking "I chose your pain" and "Dark and relentless." It´s going to be a mixture of a loveable and a psychotic Klaus. And it takes place after 3x15. The other chapters will be longer, I just thought I put this first bit up, to see how people feel about the premise. Thanks. And by the way... I grow from reviews. No matter which story of mine, the more detailed a review (positive as well as negative) the more ideas I get for more chapters. So feel free to trash or praise me :-) **


	2. If your lips allow

When Caroline regained consciousness, she could barely move. Her body was lying on the hotel room bed. So this was what being drained must feel like. She wasn´t dead, but everything felt so slow. Her breathing, the blood literally crawled through her veins. Even a movement of her eye lids felt heavy, moving any heavier part of her body was nearly impossible. It felt like complete exhaustion. Suddenly she vaguely sensed movement in the mattress. Then Klaus slowly pulled her into his arms, exactly reenacting the night of her birthday. "Have at it" she heard him whisper. Then she tasted the blood.

He did not feel her regain strength until she was through the third blood bag, then she started to move a little in his embrace. He fed her seven bags. Then she drifted back to sleep. Briefly, he considered waking her up, so that he could immediately start the next phase of his plan, but given that he just drained her, he thought that her body might require a few minutes of rest. So he threw the empty blood bags away, then cuddled up to her, looking down at her beautiful face, wondering what she was dreaming about.

_Her mind sent her back to the last time she had talked to him. At the grill. She recalled walking in, dressed to kill, giving Ric that look, the accomplice´s look. She hated the entire scenario, hated that once again they were forced to go along with one of Damon´s stupid plans just because they were all stuck in a supernatural mess of a life. But here it was, she had thought. Let´s get this over with. Partially she was unsure if she could pull it off, partially she was annoyed by having to deal with him. Her life was messed up enough without having to deal with Klaus in person. It got even more messed up with her seeing new sides to him. Sides that painted him grey instead of black. But then again, who cared anyway, as he was single-handedly responsible for Tyler being gone, Elena´s life being hell and Stefan being a mess. Let´s just get this over with, fast. She thought as she approached him, intentionally ignoring him as she walked past. Until she heard him call her name._

_"Caroline." _

_She turned to look at him, mustering up her most scrutinizing look. Damon had told her earlier to make him chase her, play hard to get, be a bitch and do anything it takes to get him out of the grill. She hated being Klaus bait. Hated having to deal with an ass that was arrogant enough to assume he could buy her off with travel scenarios, diamonds and a dress. It´s not that she did not like those things, but the notion of being bought repulsed her. The only bright side to her current mission was that maybe he would finally take a hint and leave her be. _

_"Oh, it´s you." She said, crossing her arms defiantly._

_"Join us for a drink?", she heard him say, and it almost sounded sweet. She wasn´t sure if anyone had ever hear him talk shyly. She eyed them both. Him in his shy-boy-act. His brother , who eyed her with a disturbing interest. _

_"Hmm, I´d rather die of thirst, but thanks." She said sweetly, walking away from them. As she left, she felt so stupid. She could have come up with a better line, said it more defiantly. And wouldn´t he get suspicious of how she walked in all determined to supposedly walk past him only to leave the Grill without ever having gone there? This plan was stupid, and she knew it. But then again, her eagerness to get her part in it over with, probably did not help her acting either. So she left._

_Outside she heard a car honk behind her, then his voice calling after her. Did he seriously just almost get run over in order to chat her up? Wasn´t she clear enough? She had yelled at him, she had told him what she thought of him, she had thrown his bracelet at him, she had just turned him down. What else was she supposed to do? She turned around in exasperation._

_"Are you serious? Take a hint." She might be deceiving him to go outside, but she meant it. After that she turned to walk back to her car, hearing him exhale behind her._

_"Don´t be angry love. We had a little spat. I am over it already."_

_She couldn´t help but let a smile form across her lips, as he apparently was not done yet. Damon was right, he really liked the chase._

_"Well I am not." she teased, not turning to look at him. Since he was probably going to be pissed at her in about a few moments, and since this might be her out of his so-called fancying, she couldn´t help but smile about the situation. _

_"How can I acquit myself?" Seriously, who talked that way? She exhaled. The sudden enjoyment had dissipated as quickly as it had come. So she did not enjoy toying with people, not even evil-ass-hybrids, after all. She turned around with a sigh. Let´s put the cards on the table. _

_"You and your expensive jewelry and your romantic drawings can leave me alone." She couldn´t be clearer. She had a boyfriend, she had a life full of people whom he threatened on a day-to-day-basis and she did not like being involved in whatever game he was playing either. _

_"Oh, c´mon. Take a chance Caroline." Wow, and for a second she had literally fooled herself that she would be able to get away now. She smiled at his comment. She was taking a chance, she was trying to piss of a 1000 year old hybrid. Only, said hybrid had not figured that out yet. _

_Suddenly he sat down at a bench and said "Talk to me." He sounded like a ... like a child?_

_She just shot him here "are-you-serious"-look, which by the way she was closed to renaming her "klaus"-look. _

_"Come on, get to know me." She raised her brows at that, wondering where this would be going. He must have picked up on that as he said with a self-assured grin "I dare you."_

_And maybe something about his way of flirting, this quasi-romantic talk, something about his grin, something about the way in which he kept surprising her made her genuinely grin for the first time since she´d been sent on her mission. Her job had been to keep him away. She might as well dare to listen to him. She was just enjoying his playfulness too much. So she sat down next to him with her best I-don´t-care-version of "fine."_

_But as soon as she sat, she became insecure. She did not know what it was, but what on Earth was she supposed to talk about with a man that was over a thousand years old. It was awkward, especially since she was not supposed to feel insecure if she was the one doing the deceiving here. _

_"So what do you want to talk about?" She might as well ask._

_"I want to talk about you." Ah, and there he goes again. Yeah. Right. Talk about her. Sure._

_And he looked at her with almost believable sincerity as he softly said "Your hopes... you´re ... you´re dreams, everything you want in life." No one had ever said that to her. Nor to anyone she knew. Gee, he was good. _

_She couldn´t help but laugh. "Just to be clear..." he tilted his head, indicating that he was listening. "... I am too smart to be seduced by you." His smile never faded though "Well, that´s why I like you."_

_And just for a second she thought that Damon´s theory on him liking the chase was only a partial truth._

She woke up with a start this time, sensing that her old strength was back again, vaguely recalling him feeding her blood. He was sitting at the end of the bed, sketching. "Ah, I see you´re up." he said, putting his pad away.

In a flash, she was at the door, but he had been quicker. Of course, he had been. But she had had to use that one shot at getting away, because she also remembered him talking about getting the vervain out of her system. And the last thing she wanted was to be under his or anyone else´s compulsion. She had to try.

He pushed her against the door, turning her to face him as he placed her wrists above her head, holding them with one hand. "I see the blood bags did nurse you back to health." he teased as his free hand went through her curls.

"What do you want from me?" she asked keeping her eyes focused on his chest.

"I told you, I can´t afford to let you get away without punishment. Neither can I afford having you being a liability. So I thought, I would satisfy my curiosity."

"Curiosity about what?" she asked, struggling against his grip.

"You. Like your hopes" he said inching closer to her face. "your dreams." the grip on her hair grew firmer but avoided being painful. "Your worst nightmares" He pressed his body closer to hers. "Or questions like... why you are so afraid of compulsion." he teased forcing her chin up as he suddenly let go of her hair. Caroline pressed her eyes shut, in a last attempt to avoid him.

"C´mon love, I am not going to harm you. I promise." he whispered as he suddenly let go of her hands, wrapping his now free arm around her waist. As she was still not opening her eyes, Klaus´ smirk grew. If she was going to be difficult, he was going to be devilish, he thought. And just like that he kissed her, vaguely aware that she tried to push him off. His hand wandered from her chin to the back of her neck as he pulled her closer. She tried to tell him to stop, but the second her lips started to part, she felt his tongue on hers, and the breath-consuming manner in which he claimed her mouth soon forced her to kiss back. They stayed that way for quite some time, until they were both out of breath. When he released her mouth, without releasing her waist though, she had to stable herself against his chest. As she was trying to normalize her breath, she he cupped her chin and locked their gazes, his pupils dilating. "Now that was interesting. I´d say, on to more adventures. You will listen to me and do as I say. You will forget knowing me and you will forget all the things that happened with and your friends and family back in Mystic Falls. You will forget loving Tyler. You will forget everything that happened when you arrived here this morning. You will only remember me as Nik, a guy whom you just met and whom you´d like to get to know better. So we decided to use this trip as a chance to get to know each other better. You fancy me, you trust me and you don´t mind that we only had a room with one bed room available. You will not contact anyone back home. you will not hold anything from me and tell me anything I would like to know about you. But you will be yourself around me. You will treat me like you would treat a guy whom you like and whom you´re just getting to know better. " He reconsidered his words, hoping that he did not forget anything. When he was satisfied with his current instructions, he finished. "Now, I think you should change into your pajamas and get some more rest, after all you had a long day, love." He gently brushed his fingers against her cheek, brushing away a single tear before releasing her from his gaze.

He watched as she dazedly grabbed some clothes from her suitcase and went to the bathroom. When she returned he was already in bed, waiting for her to join him. The second she fell asleep, he wrapped his arms around her, a triumphant smile on his face. His punishment would be perfect. By the time this trip was over, he´d be over his little infatuation, and Caroline Forbes would be forever incapable of loving anyone else without ever knowing why. It was the perfect plan for the perfect enemy, he thought as he fell asleep inhaling her magnificent scent.

When Caroline woke up the next morning, she found herself in the arms of someone else. She turned around without removing his arms, to meet his eyes. "Morning love." he said, slightly nervous. "Morning, Nik." she said with a beautiful, genuine smile, as she placed her hand onto his cheek and kissed him caringly. "Did you sleep well?" she asked, her voice filled with warmth. And to his bafflement, those few seconds filled him with a boyish joy. "Never slept better." he said, pulling her closer, still testing the waters of his compulsion.

"Good, because I am so going to drag you up the Empire State Building today." she teased, as she got up to enter the bathroom. Once he heard the shower running, he fell back against the pillows, remembering the care-free way in which she had just kissed him. He would definitely enjoy every morning with her that way, he thought. So maybe that is why he had gone after her that night. Maybe that is what made him let his guard down. Whatever it was, he was going to figure it out. He would not make the same mistake twice.


	3. We ll play hide and seek

He heard her in the shower as she sang "Feelin´ good" at the top of her lungs. So the rumors were true, she did have an amazing singing voice. He smiled at how domestic the situation was, her singing in the shower, him waiting for her in bed. Too bad he had been forced to compel her. Had she been giving him the chance he had asked for, he would not have to cripple her emotions so that she might never have a moment like this again. He had let his guard down around her and it had nearly cost him his family, he could not be weak like that ever again. Whatever power this girl held over him, he´d take it from her. And he´d enjoy himself while doing it.

She came out of the bath room, wrapped in nothing but a huge white towel that clung tightly to her body. "Hey, bath room is free now."

"Thanks, and by the way, you´re quite the singer." he smiled as he approached her, mesmerized by how incredibly sexy she looked.

"Oh... I forgot to tell you. I am one of those shower singer people. Sorry. "

"No need to apologize, love." He caressed her cheek with his thumb. "Did anyone ever tell you that this a good look for you?" His hands found the knot of her towel as he gently pushed her against the bathroom door while kissing her neck. She giggled, but quickly placed her hands above the knot. "Okay, don´t take this the wrong way, but I´d rather not go this far with you right now." He couldn´t help but let his hand trail a tiny bit up her thigh at that. "Why?" He looked up to find her eyes going blank, which told him that whatever answer she would give him right now she probably would have held back from him, had he not compelled her to be herself but also completely open and honest with him. "Because I don´t want to be that girl anymore."

"What girl?"

"Before I was turned I was that girl that would take the next step too quickly, too soon and it always ended up biting me in the end. Literally sometimes. So I´d rather take things slow with guys." Just like that her eyes went back to their normal light and her smile returned. "Hey, don´t forget about that shower you were going to take." He had compelled her to do whatever he told her to do, he mused. All it would take for him was a very insistent please from his lips and the towel would be gone. But that would be going ahead of schedule. And it would go against the rules of his game. So he removed his hand from her thigh and placed a sweet kiss onto her forehead, opting to take a cold shower instead.

When he returned, she was already dressed in a yellow dress, with a black bolero jacket on her shoulders. "C´mon. Hurry. New York is waiting." she said, her smile radiating. "One more thing before we head off, love."

"What is it?" she asked innocently.

"Go to that desk over there and write down every single hope and dream you ever had for your future. Take your time and don´t stop until every single wish, even the smallest, is on the list." Immediately her eyes went back to being blank, as she moved towards the desk. In the four hours it took her to finish the long list, mostly because she was compelled to ensure that she forgot nothing, he went outside to check up on Rebekah, several of his hybrids and a few witches he had been talking to about this blood-linkage spell Esther had bestowed upon him. When he returned, she handed him the list. The second he held it in his hands, her eyes lit up again. "Come on Nik, we´re running late." She laughed, dragging him out of the room, like nothing had happened. Her enthusiasm was contagious, so he put the three pages of pager into his jacket pocket and let her lead him outside.

Their first stop was the Empire State Building, and Caroline grew giddier and giddier during the elevator ride, squeezing his hand tightly. Oddly enough, he found it endearing. The second the elevator door opened though, she dropped his hand and ran out onto the platform, taking in the view. "This is breath-taking." was all she let out. _It is_, the thought as he saw the glow in her face. He placed his arms around her waist, pulling her into his chest, taking in the smell of her hair, listening ot her heartbeat. Feeling her joy in his own veins. They stood like that for over an hour.

They had spent the entire day walking around the city, her hand never leaving his after the Empire State Building. They had taken a long walk through Central Park, and Caroline got knocked down by a dog. The elderly couple owning the Labrador apologized profusely, which more or less resulted in Caroline playing with him for a good hour while Klaus sat on a bench watching her and sketching her. He had taken her out later that evening for a fancy dinner, during which he couldn´t help but gaze at her beauty. For the most part, he had made her talk about her past. About her childhood, about her friendship with Elena and about her mom. He could have pressed her for deeper details but for now had chosen to stick with easy talk. The predator in him new that a good chase was all about the built-up. He found himself however quite suprised that she would ask him back, evidently he had not prepared for that. He had considered compelling her to stop asking questions, but figured it was part of the "be yourself " compulsion he had placed upon her, so he avoided the questions mostly.

When they finally returned to the hotel and entered the room she took something out of her coat pocket. "Here." she beamed at him. He opened her palm, to find a small, plain "I love New York" fridge magnet in it, causing him to give her a confused look. "Well, you were sketching while we were in Central Park... and I ... " she mumbled. _So she had noticed_, he thought. She had seemed so lost in her game with the dog, he thought that had escaped her notice. "What is it you thought love?" "Well, maybe you can pick your favorite sketch afterwards and place it onto your fridge so you´ll always remember... Gee, I am sorry, I suck at picking out presents. I know it´s lame. I just... wanted to thank you for this marvelous day and... I saw this magnet and thought it would look good on a fridge with a sketch of the skyline or a postcard and..." _So she rants, when she´s nervous_. _Adorable._ Something about her thoughtful gesture got to him. He quickly placed a finger onto her lips. "Love. Thank you. I like it." He pulled her close and kissed her, softly and slowly. Not like he did when he had compelled her, but so gently it was almost like a caress. They did not let go off each other´s lips until they were on the bad. "So... when can I see those sketches.?"

He looked at her. If she ever saw what he´d been drawing... "Maybe later. For now, I´d rather enjoy being horny kids on vacation." With that he went on to kissing her again, moving from her lips, down her jaw, down her neck, feeling her hands massaging his neck in the process. It would be yet another moment that would last hours between them.

When she had finally fallen asleep, he got up from bed as quietly as he could, and took out her list. Looking for the right items. Some of them he had to discard due to logistic reasons. He only had 8 more days with her, so a trip to the Taj Mahal or going surfing in some really exotic location in Asia were not doable. He loved how infinitely long her list was, he had always known that she craved life, now he had the proof. And it really accommodated his plans for her. He found some of the items to be easily includable like "Watching a Broadway musical" or "driving in a limousine". But he needed on that was important. One that was good enough to punish her with. One that mattered more than the others. After a some careful thinking, he finally found it. _Have a moment without any insecurities._ It was perfect. Putting the list back into his pocket, he returned to bed, pulling his prey closer to his chest. Indeed, everything was perfect.


	4. After blood there better be alcohol

She was gone when he woke up the next morning. He awoke sensing the lack of her body weight on the mattress as well as the absence of her smell. He immediately called her on her cell phone only to find that she left it behind in the hotel room. Wondering what the heck he had done wrong in his compulsion, he threw his own phone against a wall, while heading towards the door. _That´ll cost her _was all the thought he had in his wounded pride suppressing an unwelcome, familiar sense of abandonment.

As he opened the door, he walked into a smaller figure, nearly knocking the person to the ground. "Hey, what the hell?" Klaus froze when he heard her voice. Standing in front of him was Caroline, holding cooler in both of her hands upon which she was balancing two coffee cups, a suspicious bag dangling from her shoulder.

"Caroline?"

"Yes, were you expecting someone else?" She asked teasingly.

"Where were you? I thought you had... ?" he yelled at her.

"I had what?" she asked confusedly, but still carrying a radiant smile.

"Suddenly you were gone."

"Yeah, I was." she responded, walking past him into the room, putting the cooler onto the ground. "Leaving you a message on the desk, saying that I was out getting us breakfast as well as ..." she looked pointedly at the cooler. " refills. What´s the big deal?"

Klaus stared blankly at the desk, and indeed, there it was. Her message. Which he would have seen, had he bothered to check for it.

"I am sorry, I probably should have put it some place else, ... I didn´t mean for you to worry. I am sorry."

His eyes perked up at that. There he was yelling and berating her for trying to be nice and considerate only because HE had not seen her note, and she wound up apologizing for that. _Have a moment without any insecurities_ , he suddenly remembered. Now he understood.

"You did nothing wrong. I did not even look for any sort of message, I jumped to conclusions."

"Yeah, but I..."

"You got us breakfast. I should not have yelled at you for that." He pulled her closer by the waist, and placed a gentle kiss onto her forehead, enjoying the proximity to her.

"Still, I didn´t mean to freak you out. I am sor..."

"Don´t. Don´t ever apologize for some idiot not being able to see when you´re trying to do something sweet." He tilted her chin up to meet his eyes. "Okay?"

"Okay," she said quietly, her smile returning. Then she wiggled out of his embrace, causing him to immediately miss the contact to her body. "Okay, then let´s have breakfast." In vampire speed, she had arranged a breakfast on the floor, consisting of croissants and other treats from the nearest bakery.

Klaus stared down at her adoringly as she patted the empty space next to her. She cuddled up to him once he sat. The breakfast was the epitome of cozy. They were laughing, they were sharing croissants, they were comfortable. Klaus only snapped out of this sweetness when she grabbed two blood bags from her cooler, handing him one. He was not averse to having the occasional blood bag, and under normal circumstances he would not mind. But he knew that Caroline´s only alternative to blood bags was hunting animals. For her blood bags were normalcy, while feeding off a human was something she thought of as horrifying. She had pretty much the entire vampire thing upside down, at least from his point of view. _Well, that´s nothing that I can´t fix._

As she was about to drink, he gently but firmly grabbed her wrist. "Everything ok?" she asked. And for a second he had doubts. Because indeed everything in this moment had been okay for him, if only he had not remembered that he was not here to fall for her more, but to get her out of his system. Had he not remembered that she was his prey, his victim, that this trip was going to be her punishment, it would have all ended up differently. But he was not permitting her to continue with being a potential weakness. He´d have her as his greatest victory or his most intriguing toy, but never as his weakness.

"Yes, love." he said as his pupils dilated. "You will not drink from this or any other blood bag for the duration of our stay in New York. Every time you feel like having a blood bag, you will simply remember it to be as though as you had had one, but in reality you will stay away from them. You will only believe you emptied them." She nodded, her eyes blank.

With a smirk he emptied his bag.

"Wow, I really needed that. So what´s on the agenda today?"

"Well, I thought we could had out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art today, I haven´t been there in ages."

"Okay, but here´s a headsup for you: I don´t know much about art, other than I like it or I don´t."

"Sweetheart, that is all you´ll need to know."

They wound up spending most of the day there. Klaus guided her towards every painting, mostly asking her what she felt when she saw it, what she liked, what she disliked. In turn, she asked him how he felt about them, which he answered, but not before giving her a detailed lecture on anything he knew about the artist, the painting or its particular style. He found Caroline to be an eager learner, but also noticed that her intuitive observations as well as the accumulating knowledge he was imparting on her caused for her to talk about art in a very interesting way. He had never taken her for a dumb blonde, but he found that deep down she carried a wisdom inside of her that was a little bit beyond her age. All throughout their exchanges, he kept observing her, waiting for a sign.

It finally came, shortly before they were leaving the museum. Caroline suddenly stopped in her tracks, wrapping her arms around herself, closing her eyes in pain, a quiet hiss escaping her throat. "Love, is everything okay?" he asked in feigned concern as he, of course, knew what was wrong with her.

"I don´t know, I think so. It´s weird, my gums just suddenly started to hurt. For a second I thought they were going to come out on." she said, when she finally opened her eyes again. "That usually only happens when I haven´t fed, but I mean, I had a blood bag this morning. Anyway, the pain is gone now, so I guess whatever it was, was probably just some one time thing... Or maybe my wisdom teeth are finally starting to grow." she joked, taking Klaus´ hand, leading him outside.

Klaus felt an odd mixture of emotions. Joy at his plan working, comfort at her taking his hand in her own so trustingly, and an odd sadness at seeing her at such discomfort, especially since the pain would come back again and again, worse and worse. Stubbornly, he tried to suppress the sadness.

Just because he had settled for one item on her three-page bucket list, doesn´t mean that he wasn´t going to include as many others as logistically possible along the way. The more he felt guilty or bad about his devious plan, the more he decided to squash Caroline´s emotional world. Every time he found himself too caught up in her smile, his mind went back to her list. Every time he caught himself staring at her for too long without her even noticing, he remembered her betrayal and readjusted his plans for her. He started to wonder how badly he would have to destroy her until she´d be gone from his system.

So he had surprised her by having a limo picking them up so they could catch _"The wizard of Oz"_ in style, as he had put it. Caroline squeezed his hand tightly during the entire ride. Just like she had done on their way up to the Empire State Building. During the show, he found himself looking at her too often for his own liking. She had the joyful eyes of a child, she was glowing like an angel. She was the kind of beauty he could easily get lost in. Then the pain came back. Like he thought it would. It came and it went, and came back again with a vengeance. He admired her strength. She barely let out any audible sound, she kept her breath steady, she could have run out into any bath room, but she was too determined to not let this spoil her evening. She was fighting like a lioness to not get scared by this unexplainable hunger taking over her jaws. And he got to be there for her. At first he thought that it was part of his mask, only it wasn´t. He found himself draping his arm across her shoulders soothingly while subtly whispering calming words into her ear. He let her grip his hand as hard as she had to. She was trying to maintain her calm, for the sakes of all the humans around them, and he was helping her. Because he knew, the longer she held out, the hungrier she´d get. But also because he genuinely wanted her to feel safe with him.

After the show, they hurried out of the theater. Klaus lead her into a nearby but rather abandoned ally. Caroline was too confused by the situation to even register. He held her gently by her forearms, as she eased herself against a brick wall. The pain had gotten worse the second they had tried to leave, past all those beating hearts around them. Her hand went to her mouth. "What is happening to me." she asked, a few hot tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Don´t worry love, it´ll be alright soon." he said. "Just don´t move. Don´t even move a finger." he said. The compulsion came out so fast, even he for a second had not noticed that he had used it. He left her leaning against that wall, left her to wonder what was going to happen next. He came back with a young brunette that was still clutching her _Wizard of Oz_ program. He stood with her right in front of Caroline. The two girls were so close that their chests were nearly touching, but Caroline couldn´t move.

"Nik, what are you doing?" Caroline asked, terror in her voice.

Klaus slowly sunk his teeth into the brunette´s long neck, taking in the pained look from Caroline.

_Love is a weakness._

When he had finished with sampling the girl, he locked his gaze with Caroline´s.

"Why don´t you ever feed off humans, love?" he asked, lost in the ecstasy of the moment.

"Because it´s not right." He didn´t need to see her burning eyes to know that she was giving him an answer that she´d give anyone that would ask. But, however that she was also holding back the stuff she would not tell everyone, for if she had, her eyes would be blank.

_Love is a weakness._

"Tell me, why do you think this is wrong? Tell me." he commanded impatiently.

"I know how it feels to be a walking blood bag. It sucks. Okay? It´s scary."

His eyes shot up in surprise, leaving him with more questions. However, he thought he´d save those for a better day. Another day.

"Are you hungry now, love?" he said, walking up to stand next to her.

"Yes", she said, a tear streaming down her face.

_Love is a weakness._

"Good. Now tell me, what do you think of when you see this sweet young girl here." he said, pointing towards the girl.

"The rhythm of her heart. The color of her veins below her skin." More tears came out of her vacant eyes.

"So what is stopping you, truly stopping you, from tasting her?"

"I can´t move."

"Well, if that´s all. Then... have at it, love." he said, tracing his fingers along her cheek bone.

_Love is a weakness._

In a flash, Caroline was biting into the girl, relieve filling her senses as the smell that had been tantalizing her finally united with a satisfactory taste upon her tongue. Klaus watched from the side, knowing that he was the only one that could stop her now. However, he didn´t.

When the girl was long drained, Caroline´s knees gave out. She broke down into sobs. Klaus crouched down next to her, pulling her blood-stained lips into a slow kiss. "This was just a nightmare. A very, very realistic one. You will fall asleep now. When you wake up you will remember this except for my involvement in it. You will not forget it. But it will just be a dream." She nodded. Then it all went black for her.

When Caroline shot up from her slumber, she was back at the hotel with Nick. "Are you alright, sweetheart?" he asked in a worried tone. "Yes, just a really bad dream. What happened?" "Well, don´t you remember? You fell asleep in the limo, and I had to carry you all the way back up." he said teasingly. "Oh, I am sorry."

"Don´t be, we´ve had a full day." he said, pulling her closer into his embrace. "But that dreamed seemed pretty intense. Do you want to talk about it?" He deliberately asked if she wanted to. He knew he could just make her tell him. "Not really."

"Okay" he said with a bright smile, nuzzling her neck.

They spent another hour cuddling and making out, until he went to take a shower. Pondering over his next move, he stood beneath the hot water. His ideas on how to use her bucket list against her were getting clearer and clearer inside his mind, and now he also had her blood control issues to toy with. He felt a strong sense of satisfaction at the thought of that, but at the same time a dark, broody feeling kept creeping up at him. It was like a sense of regret telling him that he´ll be sorry for his doings one day. Guilt for destroying something so pure. Longing for more time. With her.

Then it all came back to him. Why he had come after her, what she could do to him if only she knew. How she had betrayed him.

_Love IS a weakness._

"I. AM. NOT WEAK ." he hissed into the tiles of the nearest wall.

When he came out of the bath room in nothing but a towel, he heard a faint ring. _Her phone._ As he rushed out, he heard her sweet voice. "Hey. Bonnie."

As he walked out of the door, he saw it in her features. Fear. Of him. Terror. Dread. And it occurred to him that while he had compelled her to not contact her friends and family, he had not compelled her to not answer her phone should any of her friends decide to contact her. And he could tell by the look of pure horror in her eyes that thanks to this loophole and for as long as Bonnie would be on the other end of that line, she´d remember everything.

**Author´s note.**

**So... quite the cliffhanger, I think. At least I hope so.**

**Okay, Klaus is playing several games here, and I promise you the next chapters will discuss him dealing with Caroliné s compulsion issues, my first attempt at writing a steamy scene and more details as to what he plans on doing to her with this trip. **

**Thanks for all the reviews so far. They were really helping me. **


	5. Craving infinitely more

He held her chin in his hands within a split-second. His voice was so low that even Caroline´s vampire hearing could barely pick up the compulsion. " Make her believe you are fine and happy." However he did not compel her to believe so herself, at least not while she´s on the phone with someone from the real world. Slowly, he pulled her back into his chest, listening to every lie she told her friend. His hand gently reached around her head to wipe the occasional tear from her face, he could feel her shiver at the proximity.

Her conversation with Bonnie lasted about 15 minutes, with Bonnie prying her for details, with Caroline coming up with more and more lies to cover up the danger she was in, while Klaus' hands had wandered below her shirt to caress her stomach. He noticed that Caroline also tried to keep Bonnie in the conversation, knowing that once her friend would hang up, she´d go back to being his plaything. When he went to trail kisses down her neck, he could taste the goosebumps.

As he listened to Caroline´s pure heart making her inquire more and more about the state of Bonnie´s mother while hearing her heart skip beats in terror, he finally felt what he had been longing for the past daze: in charge. Like all that power she´s been having over him was finally back where it belonged. With him.

Caroline´s knees nearly gave in, when Bonnie finally hung up, but Klaus held her steady. Stuck in a daze between compulsion and reality she just leaned into him in exhaustion, not letting go of her phone, until he finally took it out of her palm and placed it onto the night stand next to them. And just like that his initial compulsion returned.

When she joyfully span around to face him, he was quite taken aback by her face. It was beautiful, but slightly grotesque, as her the happy smile plastered onto her face contrasted with the tears that she had just shed. And just like that his feeling of power was gone.

"Hey, I thought we talked about this towel thing. I expect you to be decent by the time I return from the shower." she teased, gently kissing him.

With that he watched her enter the bathroom. He could hear her splashing around at the tap, and he briefly wondered if she was asking herself why there were tears on her face if she was supposedly happy. This time she didn´t sing during her shower. Oddly enough, he missed that.

When she lay finally next to him, he pulled her as close as he could. An hour after she had fallen into a deep slumber, he was at last convinced that every movement coming from her body came from her breathing, none of it was her shivering from his touch.

The next morning he surprised her with breakfast in bed, carefully watching as she grabbed the blood bag he´d placed next to her and put it bag without having opened it. Carefully watching, as she cuddled closer to him like he was her friend, not her enemy.

"So, what´s on the agenda today? I was thinking we could visit Liberty Island..."

"Actually, I had a far better idea."

She looked at him questioningly, arching an eyebrow. "Elaborate."

"Well, to my knowledge a girl is not allowed to enter New York without going on a decent shopping spree at least once."

"Yeah, but only a really sadistic girlfriend would take her boyfriend onto such a trip."

_Boyfriend?_ His smile grew at the realization that she had attributed that word to him on her own accord. "So you´re my girlfriend now."

At that, her face froze in shock. "Oh, my god. I am sorry. I totally hadn´t meant to say that... I am sorry... I... I don´t know... why I ..."

He had her silenced with a kiss, before she could say anymore. "Please, don´t fire me again. I just got promoted." he teased.

"I just don´t want you to feel drafted into anything."

"I am volunteering, love." he said, while nuzzling her neck. "Now...about that shopping trip..."

Taking Caroline shopping was different than taking Rebekah. He practically had to drag her into all of New York´s finer stores with her insisting that she could find something cute and nice in a normally priced stores just the same. He was certain that she enjoyed shopping in general, but found it quite endearing that she felt slightly awkward with getting pampered. They found a beautiful light-blue summer dress within an hour, though actually Klaus had liked any outfit she had tried on gorgeous on her. She just claimed she hated them after discreetly eyeing the price tag. However, that blue dress - albeit a reduced item - looked beyond lovely.

"So, looks like we´re all set to go. I think we can still make it to liberty Island. I´ll just get changed and then we can be on our merry way..." she said after having twirled for him one final time.

"Love, we´re here on a shopping spree. We´re not done by a long-shot, love. " he smiled.

"Nik. I get it, but you don´t have to do this. I am perfectly fine with the clothes I already have. Plus, you might want to take an actual look at some of these price tags." she smiled.

"I already did, and sweetheart, I have a certain budget allotted for this trip and if you keep on browsing only through the on-sale section, you might be stuck here with me for quite some time."

"Nik... honestly, I am perfectly fine with what I have. The dress is great. Now let´s pay and get out."

"Is the store not to your liking?" He asked in a serious town, as he mentally thought of suitable alternatives.

"Of course it is, the stuff here is amazing."

"Then, sweetheart", he said, not getting up from the customer couch. " What´s the problem?".

Caroline just kept watching him as he finished his glass of champagne. "They are just a tad bit much for ... school and things."

At that he finally looked at her, seriously contemplating her words. _Have a moment without any insecurities._ And just like that his internal predator returned. Slowly, he got up and approached her. He bent down to whisper into her ear. "Love, please walk over to that mirror." His voice was commanding and quiet.

When they were both standing in front of the mirror, he swiftly placed his arms around her, pulling her back into his chest. Just like he did the other night.

"Please don´t be mad at me." she whispered. At that he placed a soothing kiss onto her shoulder.

"I am not mad at you. I am mad at whoever made you feel this way about yourself." he replied honestly.

"What way?" she asked perplexedly.

"Look into the mirror, love." he said, gently guiding her chin up with his fingers. " I genuinely have no idea what it is YOU see when you look at yourself, but I see something warm and breathtakingly beautiful. ..."

"Nik, ..." she tried to interrupt him, but he just placed a finger onto her lips, indicating for her to be quiet.

"Don´t. I don´t want to hear you say something humble or belittling about yourself right now, just because you fail to see that it is not the clothes that are too grand for small town Mystic falls. It is you that is too amazing for small town life. So stop telling yourself that you don´t deserve every second of this. Just stop it, love."

He watched her as she seemingly took in her own reflection for the first time in comprehension of her potential. Part of him considered compelling her into sharing her thoughts with him as her face slowly started to light up. It took her a whole minute to have the courage to gaze up into the glass. Like the challenge of accepting something bold and good about herself was just too much for her. Almost. His own smile returned as her eyes met her own. Like she finally started to see.

Klaus regretted that he´d have to erase this conversation from her mind soon. In a matter of days he´d be forced to make her forget about all of this. Every honest words he had just whispered into her ear. It would all be gone.

Suddenly she spun around in his embrace. "Okay, you win... now about that red dress you were asking me to try on... " her knees gave away before she got to finish the sentence. He caught her easily, for a second not grasping what was ruining the moment, when he saw her holding her jaw in her hands. "What the heck." she hissed, as her face started to alternated between vampiristic and human features. Of course, the hunger would be back soon.

"Don´t worry, love." he told her, for a second he felt at a loss what to do. Then the predator in him took over once again. In a blink of an eye he had a shopping assistant, middle aged and brunette, at their side and compelled her to offer her neck to Caroline.

Realizing what he was going to make her do, she started to struggle against his hold. "No, Nik, I can´t." He never let go off her. "Don´t make me do this, please." Tenderly, he kissed her on the forehead, before locking their gazes. "Love. Have at it."

He watched on as she slowly sank her teeth into the woman´s neck. Attentively, he observed the way she devoured the blood without spilling any onto her dress. How her inner hunter took more and more control of her actions. He didn´t stop her until the woman was almost dead, and he only did so because he did not feel like disposing of a body while being on date. So he fed the woman his blood, compelled her to reassemble her appearance before facing a sobbing Caroline.

The sight was tearing him apart. Like a victory that he could not just quite enjoy right. Like a stomach ache of having head a drop too much blood. Her eyes were red with blood lust, her skin was creamy porcelain. Like a twisted angel, like a fragile glass house that was somehow not shattering. It made him feel guilt and shame along with pleasure and glory.

He slowly moved to kiss her, drop by drop licking the blood off the corners of her mouth, feeling her shiver in his arms. When he caught her eyes, he spoke into her blue orbs. "You won´t remember this little escapade. You´ll only remember what we talked about until you mentioned that dress, love. This whole thing was just another bad dream. A really ugly daydream. Oh, and love. One more thing. If I should ever make you feel like there is nothing in this world for you to be insecure about, please, tell me. It would make me really, really happy to know."

He eyes closed for a moment, before they returned, bright and happy. "I am sorry, I think I just sort of spaced out..."

"No problem, you were saying something about a red dress..." he provided, pulling her into a sweet kiss.

They wound up spending hours in that store. He enjoyed watching her pick out various outfits matching different parts of her persona. He found himself getting lost in her laughter. Afterwards she dragged him into a cute little cafe, having forgotten all about Liberty Island. They had the multiple bags of purchased items delivered to the hotel, so that they could enjoy the rest of their day. But mainly so that he could drape his arm around her waist without having anything to keep him from doing that as often as he liked.

As they sat there sipping coffee, she suddenly looked up at him. "Why don´t you ever talk about yourself, Nik?"

A little bit annoyed by the question, he just diplomatically responded with "Not much to tell, love."

"It´s just... you go out of your way to be this sweet guy, you say you want to be my boyfriend, but I don´t think that I know anything about you apart from your secretive art hobbies and the way you like your coffee. I mean, I don´t want to nag you about it, if there are things you like to keep to yourself, but ... I don´t know I guess I just want you to know that I would like to know you."

For a second he just looked at her, reflecting on the irony that less than a week ago, he had been close to begging for her to get to know him, and now here she was, asking him sweetly to open up to her.

"Like I said, there isn´t much to tell."

"C´mon. You´re a way older vampire than I am. I am sure there is lots to tell."

"You´re wrong." he barked. A growl in his voice.

She looked at him insecurely for a few moments, biting her lips, fumbling with her cappuccino cup, before finally looking up at him.

"I get it." she said in that voice he remembered all too well. It was the same tone she told him off at the ball. "You don´t like opening up because it takes away your control. You like planning things, you like being in charge, gee, you freaked out on me for leaving you for a tiny moment to get refreshments the other day... It feels like you think that whenever you let someone else take over you´re vulnerable, like you´re scared of me getting up and leave you here any second. I don´t know why that is, but I know that the feeling sucks. So okay, you want to be secretive some more, that´s fine. I just wanted you to know that I care to know thing about you. Just in case you ever let me."

And then he just snapped. He was supposed to control her mind, she was not supposed to read him like a book. She was supposed to just be pretty and gorgeous and warm and kind and helpless, she was not meant to see through his walls. "You mean like you care to share the details of your bunny diet story?" he said, giving her a venomous look.

She gulped, before she quietly spoke again. "Fine. ... I was compelled once by this vampire. He fed on me, played with me. slept with me and then he kept on compelling me to think of him as my boyfriend. Not because he was actually interested in me, actually he thought I was a shallow kiddie pool, but I just fitted into his plans at the time. He used me to get what he wanted. Including my blood. And when I was turned, I suddenly remembered all of it. The feeling, the fear, the question of whether he´ll kill me now or next week. And it´s a shitty feeling. It´s like you believe your own lack of worth and nothing can ever make you feel like you did not deserve that ever again. ... I just don´t want to make anyone ever feel that way about themselves. And that´s why I steal blood bags and hunt bunnies. I try to be better than this." He looked up into her slightly watery eyes, and his anger evaporated and resurfaced in a disturbing mix of pure rage at whoever did that do her and appreciation for her candor. "And no, I did not just tell you all of that so you would return the favor. I just agreed with you that I have no right to ask for honesty if I am not willing to explain the things I am less than proud of."

He was about to speak up, but then a thought hit him. "Tell me his name."

"It doesn´t matter, Nik. It´s in the past. "

"His name..." he hissed.

She sighed. "Damon." _ Damon Salvatore._ He would kill the raven-haired vampire for his actions. He´d torture him to death. As he caught her looking at him unsure of how to continue their conversation, he timidly took her hand in his.

"My father hated me because my mother had cheated on him with another man. And I am the offspring of that blessed union. He´s chased me down ever since I had become a vampire meaning to kill me, until finally I killed him. My siblings... "

"You have siblings?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I had 4 brothers and a sister. My sister and me we just got over a rocky patch. Two of my brothers are dead. One just died recently."

"I am sorry."

"Don´t be. He wasn´t really the type to endure life as a vampire. Yes, before you ask, my entire family is more or less immortal. Except of those that are dead permanently. Like my father. As for my mother, she has recently started plotting to kill all of us. So my parents both want my quick demise, while me and my siblings are more or less estranged from one another. Let´s just say, I am the black sheep of the family."

"Because you got the wrong father?"

"No, because I am evil and bad and selfish and I take whatever I want. I am a monster." he said, staring into her innocent eyes, waiting for her judgment.

"I have never seen a monster that paints. I´ve heard of a few that steal cookies, but I have never seen than stroll through art exhibitions. Also, I never heard of them talking kindly to insecure neurotic cheerleaders. But hey, I´ll believe the monster bit when I catch you steal a bag of cookies" she joked, slowly, gently rubbing her thumb across his hand.

He could feel his lips quirk up into a genuine smile, while she never let go of his hand, no matter what else they did that afternoon. And for a second, even he himself no longer believed into the monster bit.

As she was once more in the shower, he sat on the bed, pondering over the day´s events. He had been waiting for the right moment to compel the truth about her human past out of her, but she had beaten him to it, by telling him about what Damon did to her herself. The Salvatore would pay, he promised that to himself. He thought about the things he had told her, about the things he had confirmed to her simply by not denying them, and he found a bittersweet comfort and once more an ounce of regret in the fact that he´d make her forget all about it soon. And he thought about the way he had slowly made her face light up in front of the mirror earlier. It made him smile to himself.

She disrupted his musings as she came out of the bath room, wearing a red flannel pajama. He slowly got up, kissed her, before moving to take a shower himself now, when he felt her hand around his wrist.

"Everything okay?" he asked. Her response was a soft smile and a gentle finger placed onto his lips as she gently but affirmatively made him sit back down onto the bed. Before he could even grasp the situation, she had straddled him and started to slowly kiss him, motioning for him to lean back, with his hands holding them both vertical, while her hands found their way through his hair and finally onto his shirt. His brain started talking again, when she opened the first button. She was moving ahead of schedule. That was not how he had planned for it to happen. "Love, easy... "

She silenced him with a quick, innocent peck onto his lips. "Trust me." she whispered. And with that, he simply let her continue. It was a chain of many moments. He felt her unbutton his shirt. She pushed him down onto the mattress. He felt her lips everywhere on his skin. Like a breeze he couldn´t escape. And every time he tried to touch her, she just squatted his hands away. She made him long for her body. Long for more than that. He felt his dead lungs close up on him, as she removed the top of her pajama and threw it casually across the room, without breaking eye contact with him. His fingers were finally permitted to graze across her back as she leaned onto him, kissing his lips, stroking his length in his shorts, moving against him in a rhythm that drove him wild. She spent an eternity working him into a frenzy, never letting his hands stray from her back or her shoulders. When she finally allowed him enough control to flip them over, she locked their gazes. **She never released him from her sweet compulsion until they both were all spent. Until he had enjoyed every inch of her perfection. Until they both forgot where one person started and the other ended. **

**Afterwards as they both drifted asleep, he felt her hold onto him. And finally, he relaxed. **

_She continued making love to him in his dreams. He could not get enough of her and she was relentless against him. He about to tell her just how beautiful he thought she was, when her face turned into one of fear. "No. Not again. Get out." She started to struggle against him. "Love, what´s wrong." _

_"Get away from me." she cried, flashing herself to the other side of the room. He didn´t figure out what was wrong until he caught his own reflection in the mirror. Locking eyes with Damon Salvatore._

He awoke with a start, panting heavily. As he searched around the bed, he found her lying close-by, her hand still intertwined with his. Slowly and quietly, but urgently, he got up and walked into the bathroom. Checking hi s face in the mirror. His memory still haunted by the fear in Caroline's eyes.

It was true. He might not be a monster that stole cookies, but he was a monster nonetheless. He used innocent people. He compelled fragile minds. Then he took everything from them that his mind could think of. He was destruction itself.

And then a voice in his head started to snigger. It took him back to her distracting him to kill Kol, to her plotting to kill him. It took him back a millennium to his father calling him out on his weaknesses. It took him back to why he was here.

Just like that, his determination returned. It was not the determination of a man seeking revenge. It was the guilty determination of a creature seeking havoc and harm knowing that the wrong path to travel by is the only he feel truly safe at. A creature knowing that being the darkest of them all, kept the other monsters at bay.

And with his mind gloomy and his guilt heavy, he went back to back, pulling her closer against his chest. Taking her warmth. Taking comfort.

**Author´s note. **

**So. I know it took me ages to update this and I still am not happy. I feel like this should have come out way better, but I still hope some of you liked the chapter. **


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